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Congrats Spain. From a neutral point of view that was an excellent demonstration of one-touch passing. I'm slightly disappointed that Italy weren't able to get some of their long-ball passes to players accurately enough. I feel as though they could've bypassed some of the Spanish midfielders and given themselves a chance that way. I did feel quite sorry for Buffon at the end there... It can't feel good to have let in four goals :/

I still would have liked to have seen a Spain vs. Germany game, just so I could've seen how Spain's passing fared against German attacking flair .

It seems Spain on full burn really is a level or two above everyone else. The short range passing is amazing.

Spain's strong pressing gave Pirlo no time on the ball to display his (long range) passing skills, that took most of the threat out of the Italian game. Xavi's positioning was very good, always between the ball and Pirlo.

Wonder when anyone finds a tactical answer to the striker less formation.

What I found most impressive today weren't the short passes - those are par for their course. It's the sharpness and precision of the medium-length passes, and their prowess in receiving them. No second to get the ball under control, it's just like it was held there by a magnet.

I mean, the first goal. The pass was so perfectly timed, not too slow (then the defender could have reached it), but also not too fast, or it would have made it past the goalline. Just perfect. Or the exact stick-through pass for the second one. It is THIS precision which made Spain so deadly today, and I know NO other team who could do it like this.

I was annoyed and irritated by some of their earlier lifeless games, but this final was the best performance of ANY team in this tournament by far. Spain earned the title.

My guess is that Germany will be fully on par with Spain (if not better) in about four years. The very talented generation born in the early 90s period will then be in their prime.

No other country has adapted their youth academies fast enough to the modern technical, passing game. The English and French are still struggling with getting rid of the bigger, stronger, faster mantra. South America is still locked in the destroyer/creator model: physical defenders, creative forwards. Although the destruction of Santos by Barcelona probably was a wake up call. The Italians, Dutch and Portuguese are still in transition.

What a performance. Spain played their best game in an international tournament. This settles it. They are officially the greatest national team ever.

The Italians were dead tired in the last 20 minutes. The 120 min game against England, the intensity in the Germany game, short rest between games, age and injuries finally caught up with them. The final scoreline looked bad and probably flattered Spain slightly. But when they look back at this tournament, the Italians should be proud of what they have achieved.

Merkel just called. She said, "Now you people are done with football, go back to fixing the economy! And no bailout for Spain, use the prize money to pay for the debt!"

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When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

The Italians were dead tired in the last 20 minutes. The 120 min game against England, the intensity in the Germany game, short rest between games, age and injuries finally caught up with them. The final scoreline looked bad and probably flattered Spain slightly. But when they look back at this tournament, the Italians should be proud of what they have achieved.

p.s. I still think Coentrao is the better LB. =)

Fair enough. Italy were playing with 10 man in the last 20 minutes thanks to Thiago Motta's injury. I don't think Italy were tired but demoralized playing with 10-man and being one man down against we-are-saving-our-best-game-for-last Spain.

You know, losing 4-0 in a final should hurt badly but for some reason I can't get angry at all. Maybe it's because somehow I knew that the team did the best they could given the critical physical form and the fact that we were facing the best national team in the world...

Sure, maybe if Prandelli had taken a couple of different decisions (like subbing Montolivo with Diamanti rather than Thiago Motta, subbing Marchisio who was visibly tired) maybe the scoreline wouldn't have been as harsh, but again that's football and if I look at the whole campaign I've got to say that coach Prandelli and the team far far exceeded everyone's expectations.

It was also weird to know that a lot of people from other countries were cheering for us, usually in these competitions we are among the most hated and despised teams.

If anything, this tournament has proven that italian football is definetely not decaying, infact it's quite the opposite, we're rising back. Prandelli has started a slow rejuvenation, and by the 2014 World Cup I expect to see an other couple of new youngsters added to the team (Destro, Verratti, Insigne, Immobile).

Congratulations to Spain, they might have not played entertaining football during the rest of the tournament but they did in the final and they fully deserved to win.